Maya began his baseball career late. He has played six Cuban seasons. The 27 year old Maya is listed as 6’0 and 190 pounds. The righthander from Pinar del Rio debuted in the ’04 season. Maya was the winning pitcher at the ’05 Serie Nacional All-Star game where he threw three scoreless innings.

During this past season (SN 48), Maya finished 2nd in ERA with 2.22, tied for 1st in CG with 7, tied for 1st in Wins with 13, tied for 1st in Shutouts with 2, 1st in IP with 146, 2nd in Strikeouts with 119 and tied for 5th in Dead Balls with 13.

Maya said during a recent interview that he replaced the slider with a curveball. He also throws sinker, changeup and fastball. This year he touched 96 MPH against Villa Clara. Pedro Pérez, the pitching coach for the Cuban National team, asked him to throw even more inside fastballs. …

He finished with 119Ks and 40 BBs. Peter Bjarkman’s blog shows a 1.51 ERA with 81 Ks and 23 BBs in the midpoint of that season. Here are his W-L and ERA numbers for the last 5 years.

Yuniesky Maya was voted the best right handed pitcher in the Cuban 48th series (2008) awards according to myworldofbaseball:

Maya doesn’t throw 100, but is a pitcher that knows how to slice and dice the corners. He throws in the low 90s and mixes in a curveball, changeup and slider. At 27, Maya can probably help a rotation now.